Sermon for
Reminiscere, Lent 2, March 1, 2026
Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of
all comfort. Amen.
Acts 17:22-29 22Then
Paul stood up in front of the council of the Areopagus and said, “Men of
Athens, I see that you are very religious in every way. 23For as I was walking around and
carefully observing your objects of worship, I even found an altar on which had
been inscribed, ‘To an unknown god.’ Now
what you worship as unknown—this
is what I am going to proclaim to you. 24“The
God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and
does not live in temples made with hands.
25Neither is he served by human hands, as if he needed
anything, since he himself gives all people life and breath and everything they
have. 26From one man, he made
every nation of mankind to live over the entire face of the earth. He determined the appointed times and the
boundaries where they would live. 27He
did this so they would seek God and perhaps reach out for him and find him,
though he is not far from each one of us.
28‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘Indeed,
we are also his offspring.’ 29“Therefore,
since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like
gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human skill and planning. (EHV)
We proclaim
the love of God Who created all things.
Dear friends in Christ,
The
questions of where we come from and why we are here have perplexed millions in our
times, and likely multiple billions of people throughout history. However, that statement is itself quite
perplexing, because God has never kept the truth a secret. In fact, throughout history, God has made
clear how we came into existence, along with the earth and universe as well. Furthermore, He also gives us purpose.
There is no doubt that
Adam and Eve knew that God created everything.
Still, after sin entered the world, it didn’t take long for a portion of
mankind to turn away from the truth. The
world’s population became so sadly self-centered and violent that the Lord
lamented the condition of mankind. “The
Lord saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth, and that all
the thoughts and plans they formed in their hearts were only evil every day.” (Genesis
6:5) That likely explains why God was
forgotten by many.
Still, one man found favor
with the Lord, and God assigned Noah to rescue a remnant of all living things
when God sent a world-wide flood upon the earth in judgment of the
wickedness. Having lived through that
destruction and being an eyewitness to what the world was like before and after
God’s anger was stirred, one might assume that Noah’s descendants would be very
careful to pass along the knowledge of God from one generation to the next. Unfortunately, the following generations
progressed in about the same way as those destroyed in the flood.
So, what happened? Did parents fail to teach their
children? Did the children fail to hold
on to the truths of God’s promises? Was
temptation too enticing? We can’t say
exactly what happened in each family line, but once people had lost the faith
that should have been passed done from generation to generation, there was a
void that needed to be filled. To fill
that void, many groups of people developed myths to explain the workings of the
world and gods (read idols) with the hope of influencing the events of life by
appeasing the assumed angry gods. Many
modern theories of our origination are little different than the pagan
myths. This brief review brings us to
the events in our text in a city that treasured numerous idols, so that like
Paul, We proclaim the love of God Who created all things.
As Paul walked through
Athens, he observed the multitude ways the people tried to influence life. Through those man-imagined deities, the
people hoped to help themselves through their worship. And, as Paul noted, that desire went so far
as to reverence a god they didn’t know.
They feared angering a deity they didn’t know or understand, so they
added this altar to their collection as insurance.
It is to these people that
Paul reaches out with a truth that had been clearly written since the time of
Moses but was available long before that even.
Paul told the debating crowds, “Now what you worship as unknown—this is what I am going to proclaim to
you. The God who made the world and
everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples
made with hands. Neither is he served by
human hands, as if he needed anything, since he himself gives all people life
and breath and everything they have.” You might say that Paul told them, “Forget
everything you thought you knew and believe the true history of the world, and of
yourselves, and thus know the God who controls all things.
This brings us to our
review of the The First Article (creation): I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. What does this mean? Martin Luther answered:
I
believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body
and soul, eyes, ears and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still
preserves them; that He richly and daily
provides me with food and clothing, home and family, property and goods, and
all that I need to support this body and life;
that He protects me from all danger, guards and keeps me from all
evil; and all this purely out of
fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me; for
all which I am duty bound to thank and praise, to serve and obey Him. This is most certainly true.
God has been proclaiming truth
since Adam and Eve. Noah knew it, so did
Isaiah and the other prophets, and Jesus confirmed it with His testimonies of
faith in the Old Testament writings.
Isaiah pleaded with the way-ward Israelites to return to this God, this
Lord of all. In this short creed which
the Christian Church as been professing for two thousand years, we summarize
who God is and what He does for us. As
Paul wrote, our God doesn’t need anything from us. Through the psalmist, our God declared, “I
do not need to take a bull from your barn or goats from your pens, because
every animal in the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand mountains. I know every bird in the mountains, and
everything that moves in the field is with me.
If I were hungry, I would not tell you, because the world is mine, and
all that fills it.” (Psalm 50:9-12)
Thus, the question
remains, “What does God really want from us?
If He created us, doesn’t that mean we owe Him something. The answer is simply, yes. We owe God everything, far more than we could
ever hope to give. But God doesn’t ask
us to satisfy His appetite. He desires
to take care of us, not the other way around.
The truth is God sustains us in this life. He controls all things for His purpose and
plan. What He wants from us is trust. Trust that He is taking care of us in every
situation. Trust that no devil can
overpower Him, and trust that God hears our prayers and answers them.
Finally, and most
important of all, God wants us to know and trust His Son as our Savior. That is why Paul preached to the Athenians,
and in lots of other places. It is our
duty, likewise, to proclaim the love of God Who created all things. God doesn’t just provide for us with material
blessings, though He does that in tremendous fashion whether we realize it or
not. Yet, of greatest importance to our
Creator is that we be reconciled to Him and to live with Him for eternity. It is through faith in His Son that God
carries out His original plan to walk with mankind in harmony and bliss.
Now, as we look around our
world, we see constant conflicts, wars, prejudices, and hatred. But why?
In many cases, it is because people emphasize their differences and
differing desires more than the unique truth that God loves the whole
world. Jesus, God’s Son, died for the
sins of the whole world. The Athenians
were famous for looking down on other nations, tribes, and languages. They felt them all beneath those supposed
great thinkers. Sounds more than a
little like our times, doesn’t it? How
often are people judged more by their skin color, nationality, or political
associations than by actual deeds or abilities?
To all those conflicts, the Holy Spirit reminds us, “From one man, he
made every nation of mankind to live over the entire face of the earth. He determined the appointed times and the
boundaries where they would live.” Recognizing
this reality, Paul continued, “He did this so they would seek God and
perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of
us. ‘For in him we live and move and
have our being.’”
We could spend hours
debating what this all means, but the truth is Jesus died for all people. The truth is God puts governments in place to
maintain order and protect its citizens from some who might intend harm. Naturally, in this sin-infested world, these
conflicting viewpoints lead to distress, but it isn’t because God desires that,
for Paul says, “As some of your own poets have said, ‘Indeed, we are also
his offspring.’” Our God created all
people and all things. He put man in the
Garden of Eden to care for it. He
commands us to care for the places and countries He puts us in. He tells us to love our neighbor as
ourselves. At the same time, the Bible
teaches that we are to respect and obey those put in authority, because He puts
them in those positions for His good purpose.
Dear friends, I’m afraid I
haven’t touched all that much on law and Gospel yet in this sermon. In many ways it has been a historical
review. However, we all must admit that
we have been guilty of not loving and serving our fellow man as we should,
whether that be the person next door, the wayfaring stranger, or our own family
members. We all have our weak moments
when hatred creeps into our hearts. For
all these things and more, we might readily expect God’s judgment and
condemnation.
Yet, God’s answer to our
great guilt is exactly what Paul was teaching in that city. He wrote, “Since we are God’s offspring,
we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an
image formed by human skill and planning.”
Paul went on to proclaim and explain how God’s Son came to earth in the
form of a real man, Jesus Christ. He
told them of God’s great love for all sinners in putting the punishment that
brought us peace on Jesus. Paul told
them of that great resurrection morning when Jesus rose from the dead alive and
fully restored after being crucified, dead, buried, and in the tomb until the
third day.
Now, many Athenians jeered
at the idea of a resurrection from the dead.
Likewise, many in our times do as well.
Yet, God will not be mocked. When
He tells us that Jesus is returning to judge the world and to take home to
heaven all those who believe in Him, we can and should believe Him. When God tells us that we will be raised like
Jesus on Judgment Day, we should believe Him.
Why? Because God foretold so many
events about the promised Savior and they were all fulfilled in Jesus, right
down to His suffering on the cross for you and me and His resurrection. Thus, everything Jesus has said, and
everything the prophets foretold is confirmed as Jesus rose from the grave
alive, and never to die again. Because
the God who created us, provides for us, protects us, and even gave up His Son
to death so that we might live, We proclaim the love of God Who created all
things. Amen.
Glory
be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the
beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
